Do you know that Gandhiji was attached to three of his material possessions — a pocket watch, a pair of spectacles and a pair of two-strap slippers? Yes, he was. Each one had a special…
When the first group of 18 Gujaratis was baptized on 11th December 1893, the Spanish Jesuits had not yet arrived in Gujarat. The first Spanish Jesuit, Fr. Grau, reached Gujarat in 1921, exactly 28 years…
The universal Church is composed of local churches. In the history of the Christian revelation, the local church is not born by spontaneous generation. It is born, as Saint Paul says, “ex auditu”, by the…
Evangelization ministry among the local Gujarati population did not begin in Gujarat nor was it initiated by priests. The work was begun by the Daughters of the Cross in St. Joseph’s Convent, Bandra, Mumbai. Towards…
Prior to the arrival of the Jesuit Spanish missionaries, there was no organized mission work as yet in Gujarat. “Except for an isolated, short missionary effort from 1321 to 1324, no other effort to preach…
In the year 1893 the Propaganda Fide had issued an instruction urging the Bishops to activate evangelization work in their territories, and asked them to report in six months. This urgent request rang a bell at the…
The ‘Man of La Mancha’ is a 1965 Broadway musical adapted from a 1959 teleplay ‘I, Don Quixote’; this in turn, was inspired by the 17th-century novel Don Quixote by the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes. It is the story…
The Spanish Jesuits of Gujarat are celebrating the centenary of their missionary endeavors in Gujarat. I wish to contribute my grain of sand to felicitate them. I find myself in a unique position to do…
The Bombay Mission was entrusted to the Spanish Province of Aragon, by the Jesuit Superior General, Fr. Ledokowski, on March 4th, 1921. The first Spanish Missionary, Father Ramon Grau, landed in Anand, which was part…
This year is the 100th year of the Spanish Jesuits coming to Gujarat, a landmark year in the history of service to mankind by the Society of Jesus. Of the 95 Jesuits, 18 were Brothers.…